Where to go wine tasting in Trnava: tips from Milan Bez Mapy

Trnava and the area around it are, in my opinion, one of the most underrated wine regions in Slovakia. My advice: combine a tasting in a historic cellar in the centre with visits to family wineries nearby. Give the whole wine trip at least one full day, and bring a driver who doesn’t drink.

Quick factsby Milan Bez Mapy

From Bratislava

About 45 km, around 40 minutes on the D1 motorway, then another 10 to 20 minutes by car to the wineries; without a car you'll need a lift or a taxi

How much time

One day is enough for two or three wineries; with mead and a walk around Trnava, plan a whole weekend

Where I stayed

Apartments 1620yr right in the centre of Trnava, with parking directly opposite the door

Trnavská Viecha

Over 30 wines and sparkling wines from local winemakers; under the glass floor you can see the remains of a 13th-century town tower

Altar wine

You can taste it at Vína z Mlyna in Doľany and at Karpatská Perla in Šenkvice near Pezinok; book a slot in advance

When to go

Autumn is best for young wine and grape harvest festivals; I was here in late autumn

Where to go wine tasting in Trnava? The Trnava area has a long winemaking tradition, and if you’re looking for a place to taste good Slovak wine, you’re in the right place. I’ve been here several times, and honestly, it’s a shame how little people talk about this wine region.

I found a lot here, from historic cellars in the town centre to modern wineries in the villages around, and in this post you’ll find my overview of places around Trnava where I enjoyed a good glass of wine. Have you ever tried altar wine, the kind used at Mass? I have, at two places in this wine region, and I’ll tell you why. Here you’ll also find my tips for trips around Trnava.

Trnava, the „Slovak Rome“ with a long wine tradition

Trnava and its surroundings offer not only historic sights but also excellent wine. The countryside around Trnava belongs to the Small Carpathians wine region (Malé Karpaty) and has everything good wine needs: the right soil, sunny slopes and a long tradition.

Whether this is your first wine tasting ever or you do it regularly, Trnava has something for you. Read on.

How to get to the wine route around Trnava and how many days to plan

Trnava is about 45 kilometres from Bratislava, around 40 minutes‘ drive on the D1 motorway, and most of the wineries on this list are another 10 to 20 minutes by car from the centre. Without a car you can get here by train too, but to reach the individual wineries in the surrounding villages you’ll need a lift or a taxi, so keep that in mind when planning.

In Trnava itself I stayed at Apartments 1620yr, right in the centre, with parking directly opposite the door, which you’ll appreciate in the historic core. If you’d like to spend the night right among the vineyards, several wineries on this list have their own rooms or will recommend something nearby.

One day is plenty for two or three wineries. If you also want to add mead and a look around Trnava, I’d rather make a whole weekend of it, so you don’t have to rush anywhere and can really enjoy the tastings instead of just ticking them off.

Tip from Milan Coming from the UK? You can compare flights from London to Bratislava on Omio.

Where to go wine tasting in Trnava: my tips

Wineries around Trnava worth a tasting

These wineries around Trnava turn wine into a real experience. I’ve written a lot about Trnava in my article What to see in Trnava, where besides wine tasting tips you’ll also find where to eat, what to see and a few interesting facts about the town and the whole Trnava region.

Mrva & Stanko in Trnava: a tasting with a wine archive underground

Mrva & Stanko winery was founded in 1997 by two friends, Vladimír Mrva and Peter Stanko. They made their first 12,000 bottles in a small family cellar in nearby Zeleneč. Today they’re based on Orešianska Street in Trnava, and their annual production has grown to around 400,000 bottles, a limit they set themselves so they don’t lose quality. You taste in one of four tasting rooms with experienced sommeliers, who also take you through the cellar with barrique barrels and the underground tunnel connecting the old and new parts of the site.

• Tip from Milan I asked whether I could store my own wine here too, and apparently yes. Under the winery there’s a stylish brick rotunda with a private client archive kept at a constant temperature all year round, so your bottles will be in better hands there than in my cellar.

Vína z Mlyna in Doľany: a winery in a 16th-century watermill

The Vína z Mlyna winery (the name means „Wines from the Mill“) is in the village of Doľany, not far from Trnava, right inside an old 16th-century watermill. The Demovič and Soós families bought it in 2002 and restored it step by step. Ervín Demovič, winemaker and miller in one person, will happily tell you over a glass how the mill used to work and show you the preserved milling machinery. Smaller groups taste right in the historic mill room; when there are more of you, it’s the hundred-year-old Veselá stodola („Merry Barn“).

• Tip from Milan This winery has an official licence to make altar wine. They’ve been making their Svätý Leonard (St Leonard) since 2014 and named it after the patron saint of the little church that stands above their vineyards. By the way, Karpatská Perla in Šenkvice near Pezinok has a similar licence, so if altar wine interests you, you can compare it at two places. If you’re going, I recommend booking a slot in advance.

Karpatská Perla near Pezinok: organic wine from the foot of the Small Carpathians

Karpatská Perla winery isn’t actually in the Trnava area. It’s in Šenkvice, just east of Pezinok, in the Bratislava region. But it belongs to the same Small Carpathians wine region, so I put it on the list anyway. The Šebo family, a husband and wife, founded it in 1991, and today they farm almost 60 hectares of vineyards; all of their production is certified organic. The Suchý vrch vineyard lies in the middle of the protected Martinský les forest and is their most valuable site.

When I talked to the owner, you could tell they really treat wine here as a living organism, not just a product. He told me people matter just as much in making good wine as the soil and the weather, and that growing vines is a craft that needs above all patience and honest physical work.

• Tip from Milan The site also has a lookout tower with a view over the vineyards. In season it’s open during the wine shop’s opening hours, Tuesday to Friday from 9:00 in the morning.

Terra Parna in Suchá nad Parnou: a family story behind a glass of Blauer Portugieser

Terra Parna winery lies in Ružová dolina (Rose Valley) in Suchá nad Parnou, on land that once belonged to a religious order and served as its summer residence. The tower with a cross, which most visitors mistake for a chapel, is actually a water tower that a monk built here long ago. Their father, Jožo, planted the vineyard in 2003, the first wine was bottled in 2006 and 2007, and the winery building itself was signed off in 2008. Today it’s run by two of his three daughters. One studied viticulture and leads the tastings, the other studied Luxury Branding & Fashion in Grenoble, France, and you could feel exactly that in the whole experience.

Their main variety is Modrý Portugal (Blauer Portugieser). Their father chose it simply by asking the local grandmothers what had always grown well here. Under communism the vines were overcropped and the wine came out watery. That’s where its bad reputation comes from, and in my opinion it doesn’t deserve it. Interestingly, genetic tests found no link to actual Portuguese varieties. The only trace leads to an Austrian prince from Bad Vöslau, who was once sent cuttings by Portuguese envoys. So why the variety is called Portugal, nobody really knows, and I like that open question more than any certain answer.

I also learned here how to tell real barrique ageing from the fake kind. An oak barrel easily costs over €500; the wine micro-oxidises in it and the tannins soften naturally, while oak chips in a stainless steel tank only imitate the taste, not the process. The grapes here are picked one hundred percent by hand, and they built the winery right in the vineyard so the harvest doesn’t have to travel anywhere and oxidise. For the 2025 Sauvignon they even chilled the grapes in a refrigerated truck during the harvest, and the result is a wine with a surprisingly intense aroma.

Their dinners in the vineyard sell out months ahead. They also host weddings and a barre, pilates and brunch combination, so wine here often comes second to the experience itself. And that’s exactly what surprised me most about the whole Trnava area: a level I’d rather expect somewhere abroad than in a valley near Suchá nad Parnou. When we talked about it, someone pointed out that, unlike South Moravia or Austria, there’s still no connected wine infrastructure here: cycle paths, one winery after another, places you could simply walk or cycle between. So the individual places are world-class; there’s just nothing that properly connects them yet.

• Tip from Milan If you want to have dinner right in the vineyard, book really early. I was lucky I’d only come for a tasting.

Where to have a glass of wine in the centre of Trnava

If you’re planning a trip to Trnava, book a place to stay for the night straight away, so you can taste responsibly. Here’s the place I keep coming back to when I want wine without having to get in the car afterwards:

Trnavská Viecha: a tasting above a 13th-century tower

The wine bar Trnavská Viecha is on Michalská Street, on the ground floor of the northern town tower, right in the town walls. They pour over 30 bottled wines and sparkling wines, all from winemakers around Trnava, with cheese, meat platters and olives on the side. But what surprised me most was the floor. It’s partly glass, and under it you can see the real remains of a 13th-century town tower, so with your wine you also get a piece of medieval Trnava right under your feet.

They’re open Tuesday to Thursday 15:00–23:00, at weekends until 1:00 at night, and closed on Mondays. In my opinion this is exactly what Trnava was missing: a modern space built on old foundations, literally and figuratively.

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Mead tasting around Trnava

The Trnava region isn’t only about wine. Mead has a strong tradition here too, and since it’s basically honey wine, I think it belongs on the same list.

Mead at Včelovina below Smolenice Castle

The Včelovina meadery in Smolenice sits right below Smolenice Castle, in the Včelárska záhrada (Beekeeping Garden). You can taste eleven kinds of mead, a honey burčiak (young, still-fermenting wine) and a honey spirit, and if you’re not in the mood for alcohol, they’ll pour you a non-alcoholic version. There’s a proper choice of food to go with it too, from burgers and halušky to vegetarian and gluten-free options.

If you catch one of their festivals, even better. In May they hold the Rodinný Medokvas, a family festival with games and creative workshops for kids, and in autumn the two-day Nočný Medokvas with an evening programme. Both are a good chance to taste more kinds at once than on a regular visit.

Medolandia in Dolná Krupá and the largest private rose garden in Slovakia

Medolandia in Dolná Krupá belongs to the APIMED meadery, and it’s one of those places where I didn’t expect the history to surprise me as much as the mead. Part of the site is the largest private rosarium in Slovakia, dedicated to Countess Marie Henriette Chotek, the last owner of the nearby manor house. Through her own efforts she became one of the respected rose growers of her time in Europe. The main tasting room is called Ambrozianum, after Saint Ambrose.

By the way, Ludwig van Beethoven used to come to the same manor house to teach piano to the daughters of the Brunsvik family, who built it before the Choteks married into it. So when you have a glass at Medolandia, you’re drinking a short way from the place where one of the most famous piano pieces in history may have been written.

When to go wine and mead tasting

I was here in late autumn, and autumn is the best time for young wine, grape harvest festivals and the first Advent events. Where does wine taste better than at a Christmas market? Summer, on the other hand, is great for evenings out on a terrace.

Book your tasting in advance and decide who’s driving. Ideally don’t eat a heavy meal before the tasting and don’t wear strong perfume. If you’re planning to visit cellars, dress warmly. And one last piece of advice: ask questions. Winemakers love telling the story of their wine, and those stories are usually the most interesting part.

What else to see in Trnava and around

If you want to add the town itself to the wine, have a look at my article What to see in Trnava, where I write about this Little Rome, its eight churches inside the town walls and other places that deserve your time as much as a glass of good wine.

Where to go wine tasting in Trnava? The countryside around it is one of Slovakia’s wine treasures

Trnava and its surroundings give you a lot of wine to discover, from historic cellars in the centre to modern wineries in the villages around. Whether you prefer an intimate tasting at a small family winery or a big event at a well-known wine estate, the Trnava region has something to offer.

Wine tasting isn’t just about drinking. It’s about the experience, the culture and getting to know the traditions of the region. What surprised me most is exactly the level some wineries here reach. They can easily compete with wineries abroad, and yet almost nobody knows about them. Trnava is worth it, and worth coming back to more than once.

Happy travels!